1st Edition

White Ink Interviews on Sex, Text and Politics

By Helene Cixous, Susan Sellers Copyright 2008
    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    Helene Cixous is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential feminist writers and thinkers. "White Ink" brings together her most revealing interviews, available in English for the first time. Spanning over four decades and including a new interview with the editor Susan Sellers, this collection presents a brilliant, running commentary on the subjects at the heart of Cixous' writing. Here, Cixous discusses her books and her creative process, her views on and insights into literature, philosophy, theatre, politics, aesthetics, faith and ethics, human relations and the state of the world.As she responds to interviewers' questions, Cixous is prompted to reflect on her roles and activities as poet, playwright, feminist theorist, professor of literature, philosopher, woman, Jew. Each interview is a remarkable performance, an event in language and thought where Cixous' celebrated intellectual and poetic force can be witnessed 'in action'. The accessibility of the interview format provides an excellent starting-point for readers new to Cixous, while those already familiar with her work will find unexpected insights and fresh elucidations of her thought.

    Acknowledgments Editor's note Preface: On being interviewed Part I: Writing the enigma 1. The play of fiction 2. The novel today 3. Literature suspends death 4. In the beginnings, there were many Part II: Writing the feminine 5. When I do not write, it is as if I had died 6. My text is written in white and black, in milk and nightA" Part III: Writing and politics 7. Guardian of language 8. Against the emotion of history Part IV: Writing and theatre 9. The author between text and theatre Part V: Writing roots 10. Language is the only refuge 11. Being a Jewish woman is the ideal place Part VI: On painting, music and nature 12. You race towards that secret, which escapes 13. We must hand our inheritance on Part VII: Dialogues 14. On Marguerite Duras, with Michel Foucault 15. From the word to life, with Jacques Derrida Envoi: But the Earth still turns, and not as badly as all that Bibliography of Helene Cixous's works Index

    Biography

    Helene Cixous, Susan Sellers